◆ Plus, roundup.
Days remaining in session: 17
Show and tell: Rarely do lawmakers provide demonstrations to support a bill they’re sponsoring. But state Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, who has introduced a proposal to fund hands-on physics education for middle school students, brought in Anatoliy Glushchenko, a physics professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, to do just that.
Gluschhenko on Monday used a physics kit in a wooden box to demonstrate weights, balances and math equations to attentive members of the Senate Education Committee.
His performance helped Papen’s cause. Committee members voted 8-0 to advance the bill, which would allocate $600,000 annually from 2021 to 2025 to pay for teacher training and physics kits for students in grades 6-8 at schools that apply for the program.
The bill now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.
Humming along: A bill providing a tax credit — ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, depending on personal income levels — for New Mexico residents buying or leasing electric cars passed its first hurdle Monday when the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee voted 6-2 to approve it.
Senate Bill 2, sponsored by Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, Sen. Bill Tallman, D-Albuquerque, Rep. Abbas Akhil, D-Albuquerque and Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, has the support of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who recently signed an agreement with seven other Western states to find ways to encourage public and private investment in charging stations to power electric cars as they travel the highways.
Most members of the committee agreed electric cars are the wave of the future, with Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, saying they are sort of like big electric golf carts.
A May 2019 American Automobile Association study said some 40 million Americans expressed interest in purchasing an electric car as their next vehicle.
Funds forge ahead: The Senate Finance Committee on Monday approved Senate Bill 3, which would create the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund. The proposal aims to help the state leverage unprecedented oil revenue to boost spending on early childhood education, one of the governor’s main priorities since taking office. The bill now moves to the Senate floor.
Meanwhile, the House Health and Human Services Committee approved House Bill 225, which would create the Kiki Saavedra Senior Dignity Fund, providing a one-time allocation of $25 million to supply seniors with transportation, food insecurity, case management and caregiver services, and physical and behavioral health services.
Tighten up that language: On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed action indefinitely on Senate Bill 64, which would eliminate a 180-day confidentiality period for claims settled with the state. Many panel members said they supported the bill but urged the sponsor, Sen. Sander Rue, R-Albuquerque, to “tighten up” its language and make other changes.
“Generally, you know you have my support on this,” said the committee chairman, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. “But I do think the bill could use some work before we send it to the floor.”
Also on Monday, Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, answered questions in the House Judiciary Committee on House Bill 263, a revision of legislation that would alter the state’s parole and probation system that the governor vetoed last year.
Maestas said a number of revisions will be included in a substitute bill that has not yet been released, and added the committee is likely to vote on the measure Wednesday.
Looking ahead: Members of the state Senate and House of Representatives will face off in the annual Hoops 4 Hope basketball game, which raises money for cancer patients.
The game tips off at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 at Santa Fe Indian School, 1501 Cerrillos Road. A $5 donation is suggested for admission.
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center’s patient care fund estimates the legislators’ annual game has raised $200,000 since 2007.
Sen. Bill O’Neill, D-Albuquerque, is 63 but remains the best basketball player in the Legislature. His Senate team had dominated the game in recent times, though last year was an exception.
O’Neill and his teammates had to concede the game after they were required to return to work in a call of the Senate. Republican Sen. Bill Sharer of Farmington was in the midst of a more than three-hour filibuster over a renewable energy bill that included provisions to aid in the shutdown of the San Juan Generating Station.
Quote of the day: “I know nothing about it, as you can tell. But when did that stop me?” Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, while discussing Senate Bill 209, which would increase food service permit fees from the $100 to $200 range to a $200 to $700 range.
If enacted, the bill would raise over $2 million to help the state stay on top of food inspections, among other measures. The Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee voted 7-1 to approve the bill.